Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will embark next week on a European tour to press leaders to support his position that Iran must not have any military presence in Syria.
"We believe that there is absolutely no room for any Iranian military presence in any part of Syria," Netanyahu told senior officials from his Likud party, according to a statement from his office on Monday.
"These things, of course, reflect not only our position. I can safely say that they also reflect the views of others in the Middle East and beyond the Middle East. This will be the main focus of my discussions."
Netanyahu will travel to Germany and France for talks expected to focus on the US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal -- long sought by Israel -- and the Iranian presence in Syria.
He will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the June 4-6 trip. Netanyahu said he may also meet British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman will meet Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Thursday.
Israel has been pledging for months to prevent its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran is backing the regime of Bashar Assad.
Earlier this month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iranian targets in Syria, raising fears of a major confrontation.
Those strikes followed a barrage of rockets that Israel said was fired toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights by Iran from Syria.
Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them.
Israel argues the lifting of sanctions under the nuclear deal allowed Iran to expand its presence in the Middle East, both through its own forces and with proxy groups.
It also says the time limits on the accord do not guarantee Iran will not eventually obtain nuclear weapons, while it also wants to see restrictions on Iranian missile development.
US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that the United States was pulling out of the agreement, but all other parties to it -- Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia -- say the agreement is working as intended and want to stick by it.
